14 SUPERLAWYERS.COM AT TORNEYS SELECTED TO SUPER LA WYERS WERE CHOSEN IN ACCORDANCE WI TH THE PROCESS ON PAGE 19.
observing the stenographer and her new
surroundings. Klebanoff called her name,
but she paid no attention to him. And
that’s when he got a novel idea.

“I have an ability to talk like DonaldDuck,” says Klebanoff. “So I knelt in frontof her and said her name again, thistime in the voice of Donald Duck. Sheimmediately turned around and made eyecontact with me.”So Klebanoff said, “Did you like that?”The young girl nodded her head andsmiled.

“Do you want me to do it again?” he asked.

She nodded, and Klebanoff spoke her
name again in his best Donald Duck. Now
she was thoroughly engaged, nodding her
head enthusiastically for Klebanoff to do it
another time.

“So I said, ‘Okay, I’ll do it again if you
come over here and give me a hug,’” recalls
Klebanoff.

The young girl got off the stand, walked
over to Klebanoff, and hugged him.

Klebanoff said he had no further questions.

The hearing officer turned to the school
district’s attorney and said, “So, do you still
want your client maintaining that this child
is autistic?” The attorney silently shook his
head. The young girl would begin receiving
the education she needed and went on to
successfully develop speech.

“There is no question that Howard is
the best of the best when it comes to
representing families in situations like
this,” says Marisa Halm, who worked for
Klebanoff between 2008 and 2012 before
becoming director of the TeamChild/
Juvenile Justice Project at Connecticut’s
Center for Children’s Advocacy. “Not only
is he an expert negotiator with an in-depth
command of the law, he has a great deal of
empathy and understanding for his clients,
and that allows him to communicate in
ways no one else can.”

NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED AS A PIONEER

in special education law, Klebanoff hasspent nearly four decades representingfamilies of children with a wide range ofphysical and intellectual disabilities aswell as students with other educationalneeds, such as those who have experiencedbullying, sexual harassment or suspensionand expulsion. He’s also authored keylegislation aimed at protecting the rights ofchildren with special needs in Connecticutwhile playing an instrumental role in theevolution of special education law on thefederal level. At the center of this lifelongcrusade is a deeply personal experience.In 1966, when she was 6 years old,Klebanoff’s oldest daughter developed arare medical problem that often causedher to run fevers above 106 degrees.She eventually underwent surgeriesthat corrected the problem, but she alsosuffered substantial hearing loss. Schoolofficials told Klebanoff and his wife thattheir daughter had to be enrolled in theAmerican School for the Deaf. But that,says Klebanoff, was unacceptable.Klebanoff and his wife fought for manyyears to keep her enrolled in the localpublic school. They outfitted her withhearing aids and arranged for her to sitin the front of the classroom so teacherscould make sure she was fully engaged inthe lessons.

She would go on to earn her
master’s degree from the University
of Connecticut’s School of Education
and eventually start a private practice
dedicated to helping children with special
needs overcome disabilities through the
use of advanced technology. But back in
the 1960s, her future was uncertain, and
the struggle to get her a proper education
was not an easy one.

“We asked teachers for some minor
accommodations, but we received
pushback all the time,” says Klebanoff. “I
could have ended up angry and bitter, but
our daughter made me realize that change
was possible, and she gave my wife and I a
great deal of understanding and empathy
for people who faced a similar situation.
From early on I knew I would do whatever I
could to help.”

AFTER GRADUATING FROM THE

University of Connecticut School of Law
in 1962, Klebanoff moved with his wife
and daughter to a suburb of Washington,
D.C., where he began working for the
Department of Labor during the Kennedy
administration. A year later he received a
call from a friend who said his Hartford-based firm was looking for a new attorney.

Klebanoff, drawn to the firm’s shared
interest in civil rights, took the job.

His family settled in the Blue Hills areaof Hartford, which was becoming heavilyintegrated as white flight to the suburbsoccurred. Within six months, Klebanoff waselected president of the Blue Hills CivicAssociation, which is where he becameinvolved in the intricacies of school districtlaw and politics. “It was felt that the areadid not have a lot of political strength andthat improving the schools and makingsure the school provided a top educationwould break the myth that an integratedschool is a deteriorating school,” he says.By 1968, Klebanoff was asked to run inthe state Legislature’s upcoming primaryagainst the powerful—and previouslyunchallenged—Democrat incumbent.Campaigning on a “fairly liberal” platformthat stressed more money for education,Klebanoff narrowly won and went onto serve as a state representative from1969 to 1977, eventually becoming Housechairman of the Connecticut GeneralAssembly’s Education Committee.

In that role, he was responsible for
drafting the majority of disability and
special education law that governs the
state’s schools to this day. He also served
on the legislative section that worked on
drafting the regulations for the federal
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,
which went into effect in 1977.

During that time Klebanoff also formed
a new practice with fellow attorney
and state Rep. Jim Kennelly. He and a
client co-founded the Corporation for
Independent Living in 1979, a nonprofit
that, among other work, develops housing
for thousands of Connecticut’s citizens with
physical and mental disabilities.

Shortly after leaving the Legislature,
Klebanoff became the first chairman of the
Connecticut Board of Higher Education
while building a reputation as the state’s
go-to attorney for families struggling to
get their children the proper education.

“By that time, I made it clear that I
wanted to help as many families as I
could,” recalls Klebanoff. “I knew what
these people were going through. It’s
emotionally and financially draining. But
I also saw what our daughter was able to
eventually achieve, and I knew someone
had to step up and advocate for these
children.”

Despite advances in state law—and
a growing awareness of the importance
of special education—Klebanoff still
faced a largely uphill battle that was
often fueled by insufficient funding and